Tuesday, 26 May 2009

America acknowledges role in empowering Talibans, etc.

If we were to go by what Hilary Clinton has been saying (watch You Tube video below, H/T Marina Mahathir), America indeed has acknowledged its role in empowering the Talibans, and by extension, Al Qaeda and Osama Bin Laden.

Stalwarts of the US Republican Party seem to have been suffering from memory loss these last few years but this space has never forgotten that the rise of the Talibans in the terrorism power realm was a result of America's aggressive, almost vindicative but short-sighted forward defence policy that was a cornerstone of the Reagan administration.

The short sighted approach that was America's, in its desire to defeat the Russians at all costs, inevitably led to the formation of a fundamentalist-extremist terrorism oriented movement inspired by the Talibans, the Al Qaeda.

There were two real major factions in Afghanistan fighting against Russia's occupation of the country in the late 70s until the late 80s, the Talibans and the Northern Alliance. America supported and heavily funded the Talibans and encouraged the recruitment of fighters from fundamentally Islamist countries.

France, on the other hand, was supporting, financing and advising the Northern Alliance, led by Ahmed Shah Masood, popularly known as the “The Lion of Panjshir” (shown), the coalition that eventually became the West's real major ally in the run up to America's war against the Talibans.

The rest is history -- the Talibans turned against America leading to the infamous 9/11.